So I'm a Snake, Who Cares?

Ah, there's the gorilla.

She's truly an incredibly smart advisor.

She led the magical beasts around and preemptively occupied the place where father was.

The gorilla waved at me.

"Cap-tain-!"

And she shouted.

"Come- quick!"

An ominous feeling welled up.

I'm already going fast.

More, faster, quicker.

「Acceleration lv6 becomes Acceleration lv7.」

「Black Scales lv1 becomes Black Scales lv2.」

Even the sound of skills leveling up didn't reach my ears.

And finally, I arrived at the place where my subordinates were gathered.

What I hear beyond is.

"Heuk, huk."

The sound of crying.

Which bastard is crying so annoyingly!

I frantically pushed through the gap between my subordinates.

Father, still collapsed.

He's still alive. That's really fortunate.

It seemed like he might have regained consciousness.

And the one sitting next to him, crying, is...

'...Who's that?'

"Are you asking me? How would I know."

It was a human woman I've never seen before.

A red-haired woman wearing leather pants was shedding tears.

"Ueuheuheu!"

No, it's not just sniffling, she's wailing.

It's creepy.

It was so bewildering that my Black Scales skill was deactivated.

That's because, this human woman was saying while crying.

"Dad... Hueu, dad..."

It sent chills down my spine.

Unless this human woman is really father's illegitimate child.

Or my real sister who broke the taboo of magical beasts by becoming human, the situation was clear.

'She's a crazy woman...'

There was no way a normal person would call an injured snake 'dad'.

But I couldn't understand how she suddenly appeared in the middle of this great forest.

The gorilla approached me and whispered carefully.

"That woman, she suddenly appeared and... knocked out our guys."

Looking closely, there were several magical beasts lying collapsed near the woman and father.

The explanation was that they were hit while trying to harm the human woman.

"They're all alive... And that human gave a potion... to the cool snake."

That woman did?

Hearing that story, my evaluation of the woman rose a little.

I boldly stepped forward.

The woman shouted as if she had known me all along.

"Little- snake! Huhueuu."

I'm not a little snake. Just a snake.

Now I even have the gigantification skill.

My evaluation went down again.

"It was, so moving. Uhuheuk."

But fortunately, the misunderstanding was soon cleared up.

Fortunately, the 'dad' she was calling out to seemed to be her human dad.

"Your dad was so cool too. As much as my dead dad. Huhuheuk. I kept watching..."

Humans... Are they creatures that can empathize even with snakes, not their own kind?

More than that, since when were you watching?

'Did you know?'

"No, not at all."

'It's creepy.'

She had been watching me and father all along, but we didn't know at all.

I don't know why she stalked us, but maybe she was overwhelmed by watching the struggle of me and father.

"Phuhuhuheuk. Uook."

She even gags as if crying is too much for her.

It's creepy, so I wish she'd stop crying.

"I too, should have... should have done like you... Uhuhuheuk."

'...'

"Then dad, wouldn't have died..."

She seems to have her own story.

She's mumbling incoherently about what seems to be her old story, but honestly, I wasn't interested.

I ignored her and approached father.

'Are you okay? A bit?'

「I'm fine.」

"The, snake spoke!"

The woman was startled while crying.

Is this her first time seeing a talking snake?

Fortunately, she stopped crying.

'Then why are you still lying down?'

「It's tiring.」

It's fortunate that his life was saved, but.

It seems his body hasn't completely healed yet.

"With injuries of that degree, he wouldn't be completely fine just from drinking a potion."

'Should I give you a magic stone? Or an inner core...'

"Inner core! Feed him an inner core."

Right. He said magic stones require strength to digest too.

I was a bit worried about poison, but I took out the inner core of the human-faced spider and gave it to him.

Father resisted for a moment but eventually chewed and swallowed it.

His expression seems to have improved a little.

"Kkeeee!"

I quickly turned my head at the cry from behind.

The Giant Centipede, she was approaching.

In her arms was Big Eyes.

"Kkee, kke."

She put down Big Eyes, who couldn't move, in front of me.

But I don't have any potions.

I looked at the human woman.

I won't call you a crazy woman anymore, so please...

"You want a potion? Sniff, okay..."

I'm not sure if she's come to her senses a bit, but the woman took out a potion and sprinkled it on Big Eyes' body.

"I've lived long enough to give potions to magical beasts."

"Kkekkekkee..."

Big Eyes cried weakly.

You did well, you did well too.

Father, Big Eyes, and Giant Centipede too.

And I survived too.

It was truly a terrible battle.

Only, there was a bad taste in my mouth.

It seems things in the world don't always go according to plan.

That gigantic root.

That silver monkey had already climbed halfway up.

It will end up taking the radiant fruit.

That's when father spoke heavily.

「If monkey eats, surely, revenge...」

We had chased away Akims with a joint attack not long ago.

He's a nasty fellow.

It was a reasonable guess that he would hold a grudge.

「That fruit, must get it.」

Father pulled my body closer with his tail.

「Must.」

Today was the day when the usually taciturn father spoke the most.

I couldn't readily agree to those words.

What am I supposed to do?

Even if I break through the primates still remaining in front of that root, can I catch up to Silverback Akims?

And even if I somehow catch up, I didn't have confidence in winning.

Even if I chew and swallow a magic stone now, it would take quite some time to digest into magical power.

"Excuse me."

The one who interrupted while I was pondering was the human woman.

"My name is Heilit Langrey."

I see. I didn't ask, though.

"My job is hunting magical beasts and my hobby is making and wearing clothes from magical beast leather."

I jumped in surprise.

Isn't she a terrifying human?

Is she suddenly trying to threaten us?

"That's why I was monitoring you to hunt, but I changed my mind."

She was definitely a dangerous human.

I'm not sure how strong she is, but she seems quite skilled.

"Instead, I decided to catch that monkey..."

She lowered her head slightly, looking very embarrassed, and scratched the ground with her toes.

"If you want, I can take you to where that monkey is. For a small price."

"I can really take you there. I'm fast too."

'...'

She bounces up and down on the spot as if trying to show off her running skills.

Actually, I was quite surprised.

Because her jumping speed was no less than my Heart-eating Leap.

"Don't you want to...?"

It's not that I don't want to, honestly, there's a part I'm worried about.

I brought the gorilla lady who was hiding behind and had her interpret to ask:

"What's the... price?"

"Oh, it's really nothing!"

Heilit Langrey's face brightened.

On the other hand, I nervously swallowed my saliva.